Malaysia hosts, Asean hopes, but now comes the hard part
Bloc faces a tricky balancing act ahead – boosting ties with China without pushing the US, a key export market, too far away
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[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia stepped into the spotlight this week as it hosted a flurry of high-stakes diplomatic engagements, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim leading regional efforts to future-proof Asean amid rising global headwinds.
The 46th Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur came at a tense moment, amid rising global rivalries, growing protectionism and mounting pressure on the bloc to finally act on long-stalled integration plans, all while trying to stay neutral between global superpowers.
Held alongside the Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the inaugural Asean-GCC-China summits, the two-day gathering was a bid to put Asean back on the global map – this time with a long-term game plan rooted in pragmatism.
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